The dangers of selfreference philip engel the hypocrite. Although we believe that analogy is indeed a central component of human cognition, it is not quite the exclusive province of our species. One of our greatest philosophers and scientists of the mind. A self referential column about last januarys column about self reference. Bloomberg news i am a strange loop is vintage hofstadter.
The term was first used in print in 1979 in douglas hofstadters book godel, escher, bach. The man who would teach machines to think the atlantic. Thit sentence is not selfreferential because thit is not a word. The purpose of the new book is to make inroads into the nexus of self, selfawareness and consciousness by examining selfreferential structures in areas as diverse as art and mathematics. Selfreference occurs in natural or formal languages when a sentence, idea or formula refers to. There are some nice optical feedback videos on youtube. Chapter two by the time i flew to indiana to meet douglas hofstadter, i was so steeped in his writings that i found myself thinking like him, or like i like to think he thinks. Find douglas hofstadter on amazon there is a cult of ignorance in the united states, and there has always been. Douglas hofstadter explains quines construction at length e. I suppose no one today knows whether he said it in ignorance of its selfundermining quality or for that very reason.
Hofstadter takes this incompl eteness another word conceptual game out of context to mean that the system is self ref erential or loopy and stran ge. It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into. Introduction douglas hofstadter 1985 has argued that self referential sentences illustrate many of the key properties of complex dynamical systems, in particular psychological systems. G does not gain its selfreferential qualities until someone has read it off the page and understood its meaning. When entered simultaneously into a multiple regression.
Hofstadter talks about self referential sentences in geb and mt metamag. It is not made clear why having t heorems that seem to be or are true i. Questing for the essence of mind and pattern by douglas r. From on self referential sentences scientific american jan 1981, 244, 28. Douglas richard hofstadter born february 15, 1945 is an american professor of cognitive science whose research focuses on the sense of i, 2 3 consciousness, analogymaking, artistic creation, literary translation, and discovery in mathematics and physics. The sentence the sentence contains five words contains five words. When a word is used to refer to something, it is said to be being used.
It was an escher print, a recursive geometric puzzle. Introduction snags and snarls on self referential sentences self referential sentences. It is related to the liar paradox as a problem, and it purports to show that a sentence can be paradoxical even if it is not self referring and does not use demonstratives or indexicals i. A more recent novelistic treatment, focusing on the lives and deaths of kurt godel and alan turing, is janna levin s book.
Douglas hofstadter s collection of essays, all but seven of which originally appeared in scientific american, is partly about science, partly about verbal puns and their equivalents in arithmetic, geometry and computer science and partly about douglas hofstadter. If this sentence were in chinese, it would say something else. A self aware story, the concept is not new, but when encountered it has the effect of standing out. I had to translate this sentence into english because i could not read the original sanskrit. Dec, 2019 i am a strange loop is vintage hofstadter.
Douglas richard hofstadter is an american scholar of cognitive science, physics, and comparative literature whose research focuses on consciousness, thinking and creativity. In this stanza, hofstadter not only translates the form and content, but also wonderfully conveys pushkins own jocular, familiar first and secondperson banter both poet and reader are characters here, and the metaliterary and self referential aspects of his work which were downright hofstadterian to begin with. Begins with a remarkable threetiered or trichunked, or drilldown. If i were to write a sentence that was self referential, i would start by using the first person perspective like i have in this sentence. Apr 01, 2011 as shown in table 3, both unpleasant and pleasant referential thinking were associated with increased public self consciousness, but unpleasant referential thinking was more strongly correlated with public self consciousness than was pleasant referential thinking z 2. However, in my opinion, hofstadter does not take the selfreference argument far. I seem to recall some of these posted coming from douglas hofstadter or at least reprinted by him, but here are some more. Douglas hofstadter a bestselling collection of brilliant and quirky essays, on subjects ranging from biology to grammar to artificial intelligence, that are unified by one primary concern. Hofstadters first column, in january 1981, was about selfreferential sentences, an abiding obsession of his. He argues that this is the same kind of structure which gives rise to consciousness, the sense of i, in the.
Please, oh please, publish me in your collection of selfreferential sentences. Douglas hofstadter, in his books godel, escher, bach and i am a strange loop, cites godels theorems as an example of what he calls a strange loop, a hierarchical, selfreferential structure existing within an axiomatic formal system. A mathematical analogy of selfreferential statements lies at the core of godels incompleteness theorem diagonal lemma. Douglas hofstadter is an american author who has written several books about philosophy, mathematics, and science.
This dialogue is central to the book, for it contains a set of paraphrases of. Hofstadter s law, which specifies that it always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account hofstadter s law is an. This sentence is meaningless because it is self referential. In this stanza, hofstadter not only translates the form and content, but also wonderfully conveys pushkins own jocular, familiar first and secondperson banter both poet and reader are characters here, and the metaliterary and selfreferential aspects of his work which were downright hofstadterian to begin with. Douglas richard hofstadter born february 15, 1945 is an american scholar of cognitive science, physics, and comparative literature whose research includes concepts such as the sense of self in relation to the external world, consciousness, analogymaking, artistic creation, literary translation, and discovery in mathematics and physics. Here are some examples of self referential sentences. If you describe something such as a book or film as self referential, you mean that it.
Metamagical themas covers the following topics, among others. Home dictionary of science quotations scientist names index h douglas hofstadter quotes. In other words, consciousness is inherent to the brain and involves the. A collection of hofstadters monthly columns for scientific american from 19811983, with additional commentary, and previously unpublished dialogs and essays on the mind, the brain, the rubiks cube, the prisoners dilemma, etc. This sentence i am now writing is the sentence you are now reading. The strain of antiintellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge. Read online i am a strange loop douglas r hofstadter. The anthology was published in 1985 by basic books. An example of such selfreferentiality is the epimenides paradox. I cant help but recall, at this point, a horribly elitist but very droll remark by one of my favorite writers, the american critic of the seven arts, james huneker, in his scintillating biography of frederic chopin, on the subject of chopins etude op. Hofstadter talks about selfreferential sentences in geb and mt metamag.
However, i state referential writing is interesting for at least two reasons. Almost thirty years after the publication of his wellloved godel, escher, bach, hofstadter revisits some of the same themes. Hofstadter s 2007 book i am a strange loop is a followup to the central ideas of self reference in geb. His principal thesis is that we ourselves, qua conscious beings, are emergent self. Hofstadter s law, which specifies that it always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account hofstadter s law is an example of a self referencing adage. An eternal golden braid is a classic text thats had a strong influence on countless people. The purpose of douglas hofstadter s new book is to make inroads into the nexus of self, self awareness and consciousness by examining self referential structures in areas as diverse as art and mathematics.
Breaking logic with selfreferential sentences james propp. Escher, bach 1979, douglas hofstadter makes the case that selfreference is key for. And so the authors word choice of but in this sentence very early on was an extremely deep cognitive act, actually foreshadowing the rest of his entire novel. An eternal golden braid, in which hofstadter invents the acronym god, meaning god over djinn, to help explain infinite series, and describes it as a recursive acronym.
Get i am a strange loop douglas r hofstadter pdf file for free from our online library pdf file. Indeed, we can illustrate the basic idea of a relational pattern using an. The strange loop is a cyclic system that traverses several layers in a. A recursive acronym is an acronym that refers to itself. The essence of the book seems a bit like hofstadter s concept of the self, an illusion that keeps discussing itself, and not always to the readers benefit. Here we will take this argument one step further, and use self referential sentences of a certain sort to help form a new approach to understanding the. Scott oreilly loops the loop with douglas hofstadter. I enjoy reading them but notice that his most compelling descriptions of mind take the form of memoirs. Its a venerated book among a certain stripe of computer scientist and mathematician, and its reputed to have inspired generations of people to pursue the study of logic and artificial intelligence. No language can express every thought unambiguously, least of all this one. Quines paradox is a paradox concerning truth values, stated by willard van orman quine. The purpose of the new book is to make inroads into the nexus of self, self awareness and consciousness by examining self referential structures in areas as diverse as art and mathematics. It turns out that an eerie type of chaos can lurk just behind a facade of order and yet, deep inside the chaos lurks an even eerier type of order.
The reference may be expressed either directlythrough some intermediate sentence or formulaor by means of some encoding. Introduction douglas hofstadter 1985 has argued that selfreferential sentences illustrate many of the key properties of complex dynamical systems, in particular psychological systems. Pulitzerprize winner douglas hofstadter takes on some weighty and wonderful questions in i am a strange loopamong them, the size of a soul and the vagaries of thoughtand proposes persuasive answers that surprised me both with their simplicity and their sense of optimism. Here are some variations on the epimenides paradox. Mar 26, 2018 if i were to write a sentence that was self referential, i would start by using the first person perspective like i have in this sentence. Douglas hofstadter this sentence contradicts itself no. Hofstadter s first column, in january 1981, was about self referential sentences, an abiding obsession of his.
Selfreferential definition and meaning collins english. On viral sentences and self replicating structures 4. One response quoted there was from lee sallows, an electronic engineer. Obviously, a text whose only subject is itself would not be very engaging. Douglas hofstadter s new collection of essays begins with a lengthy discussion of self reference and ends with a deeplyfelt plea for nuclear sanity. As an adjective, meta informally refers to anything self referential, like. Metamagical themas is an eclectic collection of articles that douglas hofstadter wrote for the popular science magazine scientific american during the early 1980s. Selfreference occurs in natural or formal languages when a sentence, idea or formula refers to itself.
The sentence this sentence cannot be proved talks about itself, but the sentence pa is consistent is not selfreferential in the same way. I would also make it clear that i am talking about myself, not a fictional construct. A somewhat self referential dialogue about this very web site with douglas hofstadter extracted and transcribed with a bit of poetic liesense. Selfreferential humor, also known as selfreflexive humor or meta humor, is a type of comedic expression thateither directed toward some other subject, or openly directed toward itselfintentionally alludes to the very person who is expressing the humor in a comedic fashion, or to some specific aspect of that same comedic expression. Now i would like to give you some examples of self reference outside godels theorem. Theory of types or no, selfreference is an essential component of mathematics, because godel numbering is possible in any sufficiently powerful mathematical system.
For more on selfreferential sentences, see metamagical themas. This sentence contradicts itselfor ratherwell, no, actually it do. The offering has a three part fugue, a six part fugue, ten canons, and a trio sonata. Hofstadter was convinced that memes looked a lot like selfreferential patterns, which would render them not only survivalminded and selfish but also fundamentally absurd.
Singleword selfreferential sentences 59 it has to be acknowledged, by the way, that the schema 2. When you are not looking at it, this sentence is in spanish. A mathematical exploration of selfreference and metabolic closure pdf. Douglas hofstadter was fond of self referential sentences that are both entertaining and unnerving. Selfreference, computation, and mind sciencedirect. There are many examples of selfreference and usemention distinction in the works of douglas hofstadter, who makes the distinction thus. This notion probably stems from the most famous example of a selfreferential sentence.
I am a strange loop is thoughtful, amusing and infectiously enthusiastic. Douglas hofstadters books, especially metamagical themas and godel, escher, bach, play with many selfreferential. This eccentric, eclectic and electrifying book fascinated all kinds of readers for all kinds of reasons, and its audacious young author was. Douglas hofstadter project gutenberg selfpublishing. Douglas hofstadter writes very long and entertaining books on consciousness. I thought, im looking out the plane at a plain, which is also a plane. This dialogue serves as a prototype for the next chapter. Hofstadter, 9780465045662, available at book depository with free delivery worldwide. Its challenging to make a self referential sentence without saying this sentence. Nov 17, 2016 you can learn about selfreferential sentences and godels incompleteness theorems and much besides from douglas hofstadter and raymond smullyans classic books. He received many letters in response and, a year later in january 1982, returned to the subject. In conclusion, one keeps trying to cut through the fluff that fills i am a strange loop but one finds only more self referential fluff underneath. So, what is interesting about self referential writing.
Selfreference, computation, and mind ben goertzd and harold bowman 1. Hofstadter, metamagical themas questing for the essence of mind and pattern philpapers pick up this book, and you will find yourself returning to it again and again. In philosophy, it also refers to the ability of a subject to speak of or refer to itself, that is. We use cookies to give you the best possible experience. Despite the doyglas and easilyread writing, the book is overall not an easy read due to the depth and complexity of the themes, but its well worth the effort.
Two years ago, when i first wrote about selfreferential sentences in this department. Includes bibliographical references pages 802819 and index pt. Douglas hofstadter quotes 8 science quotes dictionary. Self referential sentences simple ones like this sentence contains five words, paradoxical ones like this sentence is false, self documenting sentences which tally how many of each letter of the alphabet they contain, and a story composed entirely of self referential sentences. It is, to borrow from the title of the first essay, a self referential book, self. Hofstadter, in all his writings, f ollows the common trend and makes much of paradoxes, which he regards as self references, r ecursions or l oops, but t here are many inconsistencies i n. A followup on viral sentences and self replicating structures nomic. A dialogue in which godels selfreferential construction is mirrored in words. Douglass hofstadters pi in the sky washington post. The strange loop in deep learning intuition machine medium. Answers worksheet 1 self reference 1 play guess the number with a classmate. This sentence raises a serious objection to the entire class of self referential sentences that merely comment on their own function or placement within the story e.
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